Navy amputee wins long-jump bronze at Paralympics

Feb. 3, 2011 - 02:54PM
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Last Updated: Feb. 3, 2011 - 02:54PM |

Navy Chief Cryptologic Technician Officer Casey Tibbs, shown training in 2008, won the bronze medal in the long jump during the 2011 International Paralympic Committee's Athletic Word Championships, held in January in New Zealand. (Navy)

Navy Chief Cryptologic Technician Officer Casey Tibbs recently added another medal to Team USA's wins during the 2011 International Paralympic Committee's Athletic World Championships in New Zealand.

Tibbs won a bronze in the long jump Jan. 25, leaping 6.19 meters (more than 18 feet).

"Coming away from the world championships with a bronze medal is a definite win," Tibbs said in a news release.

This isn't the first time that Tibbs, assigned to Navy Information Operations Command Georgia, has distinguished himself since he lost his right leg below the knee as a result of a motor-cycle accident in 2001.

In 2004, he won a gold medal in the four-man, 100-meter relay and a silver in pentathlon at the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece. In 2006, he won gold in the pentathlon and silver in the long jump at the IPC Athletics World Championships in Assen, Netherlands.

And in 2008, Tibbs won gold again in the relay and bronze in the long jump at the Paralympic Games in Beijing.

Tibbs was the first amputee to complete Navy Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape training, as well as the first amputee to become an aircrewman through the Naval Aircrew Candidate School, according to his Team USA bio.

He's been competing in athletic events since 2003 and was named the U.S. Olympic Committee's Paralympic Athlete of the Year in 2004.

"Being a chief in the U.S. Navy … we have a motto that says, ‘A chief always has to be ready,' " Tibbs said in the statement. "Given that I was deployed twice last year and didn't have as much preparation as I would have liked, I knew I still had to be ready to compete."